....and tomorrow I get to go to an amusment park!

So….maybe you haven’t noticed, but Sam and I are having a bit of trouble posting about normal everyday activities, just saving ourselves up for a big weekend post at the end. This lack of update may not make you happy, but really, we have a good reason for it. Or at least I do….maybe there is no excuse for Sam. But for me…..yeah, I have excuses! One is that a blog entry takes me to long. I don’t want to spend my free time writing a blog entry on my computer! Another is that my life is so jam packed full of fun things I just don’t have time! But tonight, I’m going to stay up late and give you a little insight into my life….

An amusement park full of fun, or a Factory full of death

Last week – exam week. This meant that I sat at my desk and did nothing ALL WEEK. The students take their midterms until about 11:30, then are free for the rest of the day. The teachers then have a teachers meeting and head out. On Monday, after school, my co teachers all came to my apartment for tea and cookies. Tuesday, I went with one of my co teachers to the salon and we got our hair cut. On Wednesday was another teachers meeting, then I went for a walk around my town – just to do a bit of exploring. Thursday, the last day of exams, all the students and teachers went to the movies. So that’s what I did to!

Walking along the river

Maybe you are wondering what I was doing while all these kids were taking midterms. Well, I was studying. My co teacher set me up with a Korean teacher at the school and he’s been giving me Korean lessons. Every day I would study for 4 hours, then get another mini-lesson, and then study more. I won’t discuss my progress- that would be embarrassing. Let’s just say that I will be a very very very understanding teacher from now on.

Sam finished before I did....I think she had a head start though.

Thursday night wall climbing!

Oh, and the nighttime! What do Sam and I spend our nights doing? Preparing lessons for the next day? Cooking dinners for each other? Studying Korean? Exploring the town? None of the above. We  joined a gym – a climbing gym! Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we go to the gym and climb until about 10. On Thursday though, we all go to the giant rock wall to climb. There are two gyms in Pohang, and all the members from both gyms head to the climbing wall and climb until 10. There are family there, young, old, in between. It’s great! The first time I was there, I looked up the wall and saw this girl climbing up one of the hardest routes. “Wow, I thought to myself, that girl is a beast!” I saw her finish off, and thought “Oh man, if only someday I could be as amazing as her! She must have been climbing for so long! What a maniac!” I saw her come down and thought “OMG she is 13!” Yes, she was 13. And there is another girl just as amazing as her – she’s about 10 years old. 

Yeah...she's thirteen

Bride and Groom

On Friday afternoon, my co-teacher came up to me – the conversation went like this:

Co-Teacher: Did you know about the vice principal’s son’s wedding this weekend?

Me: I had heard rumors…..

Co-Teacher: Do you want to come?

Me: Uhh……

Co-Teacher: Let me know by the end of the day if you want to come……you have 5 minutes.

So, I went to the wedding. It was very interesting – in many ways different from weddings back home. How you ask? Well, let me tell you how the wedding went.

We arrive at the university ballroom, dressed up and ready to see a wedding. Outside the door is a picture of the bride and groom. Sanding next to the door is the groom and the parents of the couple. Also near the door is a table for the “wedding donations”. Instead of a gift, you just give some money and receive a meal ticket.

We go see the bride. She is beautiful! The wedding was about to start. I had the choice to a) stay and watch the ceremony or b) go ahead to the lunch buffet. I stayed to watch. Many people went to go eat.

The wedding started off. The mothers walked down the aisle, then the fathers walked down the aisle. Then the groom walked – lights flashed and a marching tune played. The bride walked last, to a normal bride-walking song.

The altar

The man at the alter was not a preacher – he was the principal of the high school. He spoke to the bride and groom, giving them advice for the coming years.

After the speaking, the groom’s friend sang them a song. Then the bride’s friend played the flute. Then they cut the cake while the song pomp and circumstance played. The bride and groom started to sing a song together, but their parents cut them off. I don’t know why.

Now that the ceremony was over, the pictures were to be taken. Since that wasn’t very interesting, we went ahead to the buffet lunch, ate some good food, and left.

Streets of Busan

Last night my friend and neighbor Emily and I went to Busan for the evening. Why? To watch a movie. The Busan Film Festival is almost over, and she bought us tickets to see a movie! Our plan – get there, see the movie, and get out. The last bus left town at 11:30, we had to be on that bus or wait at the station until the next bus left, at 5:30am. We got into town, ate some dinner, and watched the movie. It was soooo good! Under the Hawthorne Tree was the name. Anyway, the movie got out at 10:30, we rushed out of the theater, sped to the subway, and sat for the 45 minute subway ride. We got off the subway, it was 11:25……5 minutes to go! We RAN to the buses, looking around frantically for the correct one. And we found….an empty parking space. We were 2 minutes late! But, lucky for us there was a bus drive who told us “go buy a ticket, get on this bus”. I’m not sure if he was supposed to go to Pohang or not, but he took us home. We arrived back at 1:00, went to bed, and were read for school the next morning!

Emily and I, pausing during our rush toward the subway

Today there was a fire drill at school. But it wasn’t like any normal fire drill – apparently they only have it once a year so it’s pretty important. Before hand I was given a map of a stairwell and told. “During the fire drill, wait here and help the students. Tell them not to panic. Then save yourself” Just like a good girl, I followed the instructions and escaped the burning building. On the way out I ran into a few teacher who were about to carry another teacher out on a stretcher. And behind them was another teacher with his arm in a sling. As we walked out to the field with the man on a stretcher, two other teachers were spraying a burning trashcan with a fire extinguisher. Then a fire hose came out and someone started spraying the school. All the students were clumped together at the edge of the field, and there was an ambulance parked to the side. The teachers carried the teacher-on-a-stretcher to the ambulance (I’m not sure if they actually put him in there or not) and I went to stand with the rest of the students and teachers. It was a really fun activity, but I think the observer (from 119) wasn’t too thrilled with the performance. He thought it was very inappropriate to laugh during a fire drill.